What a drag, all these languages. At school I hated every last one of 'm. Every country seemed to have its own, and I had to learn them all!
Do you know why the world is ruled by guys who speak English? Because they didn't have to waste time on learning by heart which goddamn definite article belongs to which goddamn noun.
Now what does this mean?
The definitive article is 'the'. Simple enough, no?
As far as the English are concerned, indeed.
As far as all other European languages, including Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and German are concerned: no, for they are 'enriched' with 1 or 2 extra definite articles.
Dutch, for example, has 2 of 'm, namely 'de' and 'het' instead of a single 'the'. Of course there are hardly rules. You simply have to learn 'm by heart, and believe me, there are quite a few...
How come we haven't managed to establish a good, simple & logical world language thousands years ago already? I don't bother to try to answer this question, but the least we can do is to get one now.
English? Don't get me wrong, apart from this article thing, English is as lousy as the rest. Have a look at this shit, for example:
I'm sure you can add a few more. Down the drain with 'm! Down the drain with all European languages! Oops! There go all other languages as well... Down the drain....
The 1st constructed language was Volapuk, and it was a mess. In the second half of the 19th century Zamenhof published the well known Esperanto. It was better than Volapuk and became popular all over the world. It could be improved on various points though. Some of these were so essential that a brand new language was constructed. It was named Ido, which is in fact improved Esperanto. 'Unfortunately' Esperanto had already become popular all over the world already, and the last thing the Esperantists wanted to do, was to learn a second international language.
I very definitive plead for Ido however, because of the improvements. Besides, Ido is a lot more fun to learn than Esperanto with its 6 Slavic characters, which aren't on any keyboard for example.
Oh yes, these drain languages...
When are the Germans finally going to learn French? I can tell you exactly when. On the day that the French are going to speak German.
Don't you feel glad that all of this has gone down the drain?
Can you smell the fresh air?
Now can Ido really become the world language, spoken by everyone? Yes, it can. Here comes the proof:
I admit that this prove may not be in conformity with the highest democratic standards, but what the hack.
Here's a well known example of an Ido improvement:
Now where's the symmetry?
Ido:
Amiko = friend
Amikulo = male friend & Amikino = female friend
Isn't the symmetry beautiful?
Constructed languages in general
Another page about constructed languages
Ido
Ido in Dutch
WWW newsgroup Idolisto
Other constructed languages: